The Devil Inside
by Svinorita
Summary: Fixing up a van can be pretty dull and uneventful, right...? Wrong! As Nico would soon discover, a lot of excitement can happen to you when you're least expecting it! Before long, Nico found herself witnessing everything from a feisty family feud to a surprise demon attack. To top it all off, she may even get to experience a hot date with the man of her dreams...
1. Bring Out The Fire

_A/N: Before I begin, I have a confession to make… I am absolutely obsessed with Devil May Cry! If I had to describe the gameplay, story and characters in one word, it would simply be "sensational!" Over time, I discovered that I really enjoy analyzing each of the characters and enemies that have appeared throughout the series just as much as I love playing the games themselves ;) I've been slowly plucking up the courage to write some Devil May Cry fan fics for a while now, only to let my anxious nature get the better of me and make me hesitate in the end…_

_But recently, I have read so many amazing stories on this fandom and met some incredibly kind, inspirational writers here that have really helped give me the motivation I needed to believe in myself and finally put my work out there for others to see! I hope I am able to do justice to the beautiful games in this series and that at least some of you find my first attempt at a Devil May Cry fan fic mildly enjoyable to read :)_

_Having said that, let's get started! I have been toying with the idea for this naughty teaser of a story for some time now (being the insecure, anxious person that I am, I tend to resort to humor to break the ice and hopefully provide some "light entertainment" for this; my first story for Devil May Cry!) But don't worry! I have many more ideas for other, more serious stories I plan to explore later on :)_

_Just one last thing in regards to the title I've chosen for this story: It was inspired by a certain song from the band INXS. (You'll find out why a little later on in the story…) As for the title of this first chapter, it was actually inspired by a brilliant comment Nero makes in Mission 1 of DMC5 just as he's about to face a particularly large cluster of Qliphoth Roots blocking his path…_

_Thanks again to everyone for reading and I hope you guys enjoy it :)_

* * *

**Chapter 1: Bring Out The Fire.**

Nico hated Empusas with a passion. No matter how hard she tried to avoid them, those pesky, ugly little demon bugs kept cropping up far too often in her life lately. It was nearly two months since Dante and Vergil had returned from the Underworld and the last traces of the Qliphoth had been exterminated from Redgrave. The descendants of Sparda had successfully destroyed the main portal that had been allowing demons to enter the human world and Redgrave City was slowly beginning to recover. One by one, buildings were being restored and some of the survivors that had fled the city during the demon invasion had started returning to what remained of their homes and were attempting to rebuild their shattered lives.

Overall, things were steadily returning to normal, right…?

Wrong! Things were far from normal for Nicoletta Goldstein. Somehow those annoying Empusas persistently found ways to reappear and ruin Nico's day at least on a weekly basis! In fact, Nico felt convinced that the sole purpose of the Empusa's existence now that the Qliphoth had been destroyed, was to infuriate her. Well that and apparently to clog her van's radiator with their disgusting demon guts every time she ran into a mob of the damned things!

As a result, the frustrated mechanic currently found herself spending a Saturday afternoon in a stifling hot garage on the outskirts of Redgrave City, one hand angrily flicking a cigarette as she leaned over the open hood of her van and replaced the radiator for the third time in a fortnight. Lady stood near the front passenger side of the van, absently cleaning the passenger window with a cloth while she engaged in some light conversation with Nico. Despite Nico's initial annoyance about the latest mess the Empusas had made of her engine, she was genuinely grateful that Lady had decided to drop by and offer to keep her company while she worked. The two women had always gotten along well with each other and over the last couple of months, they had really bonded over their shared passion of firearms and dangerous explosives!

The fact that Lady also knew a thing or two about machinery also sat well with Nico. She was the type of friend Nico could count on to have a decent conversation about the finer details that went into crafting the baddest demon-killing weapons imaginable! Lady had been in the devil hunting business with Dante for many years after all. She had valuable experience and insight when it came to discussing the most effective ways of killing all manner of hellish creatures that Nico had only ever read about in her old Demonology texts.

Nico smiled to herself proudly as she started to tell Lady about her latest firearm project. She could not keep the excitement out of her voice as she explained how close she was to creating the ultimate Empusa-annihilating weapon ever dreamt up by a person of sound mind.

"Those ugly lil' bloodsuckers won't know what hit 'em! Just you wait! Pretty soon we'll all be livin' in an Empusa-free world thanks to my genius and…"

All of a sudden, the song _"Hit me with your best shot" _by Pat Benatar blared loudly over the van's speakers, causing both Nico and Lady to jump involuntarily. The two women exchanged startled looks before turning their gazes in the direction of the open door near the neon Devil May Cry sign on the side of the van. Nero stood in the doorway, bobbing his head in time with the music and busting out some lame dance moves, resulting in a snort of amusement from Lady.

Nico on the other hand, was far from amused…

"Hey! What's your problem, jackass?! Can't you see I'm tryin' to work here?" Nico yelled irritably. She picked up the wrench she'd been using to fix the radiator with moments earlier and threw it in Nero's direction out of pure annoyance.

Nero ducked as the wrench narrowly missed hitting him in the head. He quickly regained his composure and gave the mechanic a teasing grin. "Geez! Chill out, Nico! I was only trying to provide you with some light entertainment."

Nero's grin grew wider as he stepped out of the doorway and regarded the two women with an unmistakable air of self-satisfaction. "I know how much you girls love big guns and blowing stuff up. So I thought this song would provide the perfect soundtrack for you while you worked."

Nico rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Yeah, well for your information smartass, Lady and I were in the middle of a very important conversation!"

"Okay, okay! No need to get all edgy. "Nero raised his hands in a gesture of mock apology, then added sarcastically, "Why don't you have another cigarette to calm down? Oh wait! You just finished smoking one less than five seconds ago!"

Nero turned his back to his two companions, deliberately ignoring the icy glare Nico sent his way and began showing them some of his best dance moves (which mainly involved flapping his arms around like an idiot and shuffling his feet as though he had a screwdriver rammed up his butt…) As the song ended, Nero flipped the hood of his jacket over his head gangster-style and folded his arms across his chest, trying his hardest to look utterly badass for his bemused audience. Without warning, the sound of exaggerated clapping came from the partially opened garage door directly behind where Nero was standing, catching everyone by surprise.

"Not bad, kid. Nowhere near as sexy as my dancing. But still, pretty impressive…" The unexpected watcher commented with a slightly teasing undertone to his voice.

Nero bit back a curse, a telltale blush already creeping across his face as he turned towards the familiar voice and tried to sound aloof. "Dante! What are you doing here?" Showing off his dancing to the girls was one thing, but he certainly did not appreciate his uncle being part of the audience!

"What? Do I need a special excuse to visit my favorite nephew these days?" Dante replied, feigning astonishment as he walked up to a blushing Nero with a mischievous glint in his blue eyes.

"What do you mean, your _favorite nephew_? As far as I know, I'm your _only_ nephew!" Nero pointed out with equal sarcasm. Already, the young devil hunter felt his embarrassment give way to irritation and he resorted to his usual snarky attitude whenever he found himself in the presence of his flippant uncle.

"Ah! You're absolutely right, kid! That's why I brought you a little something to show you just how much you mean to me…" A devious smile broke out on Dante's lips as the older devil hunter reached into his coat pocket and tossed a small, pink and white packet at a startled Nero. "Here! Catch!"

Nero instinctively reached for his sword with one hand as he snatched the mysterious packet out of the air with his recently regenerated right hand. He looked at the small bag Dante had thrown at him suspiciously and slowly let his fingers slip from the Red Queen's hilt when he saw what was inside…

"Marshmallows?" Nero asked quizzically. He looked from the bag of marshmallows in his hand to Dante and back again, his eyebrows becoming arched in confusion when upon closer inspection the young hunter realized that the packet had already been opened and about half the contents seemed to be missing.

"What happened to the rest of them?" Nero inquired suspiciously. He feared he already knew the answer even before he heard it from Dante, but he couldn't help asking anyway.

Dante shrugged casually. "I hope you don't mind, but I helped myself to a few while on my way here."

Nero gave his uncle a disapproving look. "I don't know what your definition of _a few _is…" He held up the half-empty packet of marshmallows and waved it in Dante's face for emphasis before concluding, "…but it sure looks to me like you helped yourself to most of these and decided to leave only _a few_ for me!"

Dante waved his hand in a dismissive gesture. "If you don't like them, you can always give them back to me you know…"

Nero's hand tightened around the packet of marshmallows possessively and he shook his head defiantly. "I see what you're trying to do, wise guy and the answer is no! When you give someone a gift, you can't just decide to take it back. These are mine now!"

Nero shoved the remaining marshmallows into his pocket decisively. A small smile traced his lips as he recalled something he'd once said as a joke whilst activating Red Queen's exceed function: _'Who brought the marshmallows? 'Cause I'm bringin' the fire.' _If only Dante had known about that comment! Nero was almost tempted to tell his clueless uncle about it, just so he could see what Dante's reaction would be to that crazy little coincidence. But in the end, Nero convinced himself that it would be better to keep quiet about it.

_It would only give him an excuse to mock me in the future. I would never hear the end of it…_ the young hunter cringed slightly at the thought. He was sick and tired of being on the receiving end of his uncle's twisted sense of humor. Nero decided it was time for him to be the one doing the mocking for a change!

He glanced up at Dante and noticed the older hunter was in the middle of yawning heartily. Nero seized his chance and couldn't help smiling to himself smugly as he quipped, "Isn't it time for your afternoon nap, Old Man?"

Dante gave a bemused snort. "Nice try, kid. But I'm afraid you'll have to do a lot better than that. Actually, speaking of doing better…" The veteran devil hunter crossed his arms over his chest as he regarded Nero thoughtfully for a moment. Suddenly, the corner of his mouth turned up in a sly grin and Nero knew his uncle was about to unleash some snide remark in retaliation…

_Oh great. Here it comes…_ Nero thought dismally as Dante held his gaze with his piercing blue eyes and said, "Those dance moves of yours could do with some improvement, my boy. It looked promising, but your arms were flying all over the place and your steps were a little stiff. You need to loosen the tension in your joints and your movements will look much more fluid and stylish!"

Nero stared at his uncle in disbelief. He wasn't quite sure he'd heard the man right. Who did Dante think he was to criticize his amazing dance skills like that?! Nero recalled seeing his uncle dancing on many occasions and he didn't think Dante's moves were anywhere near as great as his own!

_Well, if that's the way the old fool wants it, that's how he's going to get it!_

"Oh, I get it! You think my dancing will look so much more _stylish_ if I start pulling off those cheesy '80's inspired dance moves of yours! Well, correct me if I'm wrong uncle, but do they go something like this…" Nero rolled back his shoulders and adopted the stance he remembered seeing Dante use when he was about to start dancing. Then he made a dramatic show of imitating his uncle's self-proclaimed super stylish dance moves. He began shaking his hips and throwing his arms in the air like he saw Dante do in the past, grimacing and pulling all manner of sleazy facial expressions. Finally, he ended the routine by pointing to his own chest and shouting "Hot!"

Nero could hear Lady and Nico snickering behind him, but he didn't care. His aim had been to show Dante just how ridiculous his uncle's dance moves really were! Nero's eyes searched the veteran hunter's face intently for the smallest clue that he had finally succeeded in humiliating him.

However, if Dante had been offended by his nephew's mockery, he didn't show it. Instead he tapped his chin thoughtfully with an index finger before replying with a small smile. "That was a pretty good effort, Nero. It didn't look quite as sexy as when I'm doing it of course! But with enough time and practice, I'm sure you'll have the ladies swooning over you!"

Nero's shoulders slumped in defeat. Was this guy for real?! What did he have to do around here to get one over on Dante?!

Nero was mildly aware that his uncle was still talking to him. He could see the man's lips moving and all. But by this point, the young hunter was too absorbed in his own thoughts to care what Dante was saying anymore. It wasn't until he heard the words, "…just one last thing, kid…" that Nero snapped back to attention, his tired gaze meeting Dante's warily.

Dante looked straight into Nero's eyes, his voice sounding almost apologetic. "You should drop the _'Hot'_ at the end of your routine next time."

"Excuse me?" Nero blinked at his uncle in confusion. He genuinely had no idea what Dante meant by that statement.

Dante gave a simple shrug and tried to explain it to Nero as sincerely as he could. "I'm sorry kid. But you're just not hot enough yet. Now when I say the word _'Hot' _at the end of my dance routine, I'm not just throwing it out there for no reason."

"I'm actually just stating a fact." Dante admitted, beaming with pride.

"Wow. That sounded almost philosophical of you, uncle. You trying to live up to your namesake; Dante Alighieri or something?" Nero rebuked sarcastically. He felt like summoning his Devil Bringer arm and wiping the floor with that smug expression on Dante's face. But Lady and Nico had been watching their little exchange of insults the whole time and Nero didn't want to start whaling on his uncle in front of the girls.

Still. Even if he had to refrain from physically hitting Dante, Nero decided that he could at least throw a few more verbal punches his way! "Speaking of namesakes, did you know that many people love to name their pet dogs Dante?"

Nero had no idea where those words had come from. He was just so frustrated by his uncle's smart mouth comments by this point that he'd blurted out the first thing that had come to his mind.

Dante looked thoughtful for a moment, before nodding slowly in acceptance. "Well, they do say that dog is man's best friend. I see nothing wrong with people wanting to name their best friends after me!" The veteran hunter smiled to himself deviously before adding with a hint of sarcasm, "On the other hand, I don't recall hearing many people naming their dogs Nero. Or goldfish for that matter. Or gerbils…"

"Enough already! I get the picture!" Nero interrupted sharply. He could feel a wave of intense power threatening to consume his whole body and it took all his willpower to resist the urge to go into his Devil Trigger state. Dante was way overdue for a decent bitch slap in that smartass mouth of his!

But Dante wasn't quite done yet. Ignoring his nephew's clenched fists and gritted teeth, the veteran hunter couldn't resist ruffling Nero's feathers a little more. "Don't look so disappointed, kid! There was once a pretty infamous person named Nero, you know? I heard he was a mighty emperor and that he single-handedly toasted a whole city like a marshmallow! Too bad it happened to be his _own_ city, but still…"

Nero kept his gaze fixed straight ahead, his fists still clenched tightly at his sides. His sword; the Red Queen felt warmer and heavier on his back than usual, as though she wanted to draw blood as much as her master did at the moment. Nero felt a hand suddenly slap him on the shoulder and he looked up to see Dante grinning at him mockingly.

"Just remember, kid. Rome wasn't _burnt_ in a day!"

Over by the van, Lady and Nico watched in silence as uncle and nephew continued exchanging verbal blows and sharp-tongued quips. Although she had found their sniping amusing at first, Lady had grown increasingly bored with the scene playing out before her. After working alongside Dante for so many years, she had pretty much seen and heard all this before…

Nico on the other hand was completely spellbound, the cigarette she held between her fingers all but forgotten even though it had almost burned all the way to the butt and was now dangerously close to scorching her fingers. None of that mattered to Nico though. She could not take her eyes off Dante ever since he'd arrived at the garage. She had met the legendary devil hunter only once before and she hadn't been able to get him off her mind since!

"_My gawd! He is so friggin' hot!"_ Nico thought to herself dreamily. Everything about him was captivating: Those dazzling blue eyes. The way his silvery-white hair accentuated his beautiful face. And that super sexy body…

Nico didn't even realize that she was practically drooling with longing until Lady snapped her fingers in front of her face and brought her back to reality.

"Hey! Snap out of it, girl! You're practically undressing Dante with your eyes." Lady said with a teasing chuckle.

"Wha-what! I am?" Nico stuttered in surprise. She felt her cheeks blushing as Lady started snorting with laughter. "Shoot! Was it that obvious?"

"Oh. Trust me, Nico. It was obvious! It almost looked as if you wanted to pat him down and check for concealed weapons!" Lady informed her teasingly.

Nico laughed nervously, dropping her gaze to the floor as she wiped her sweaty palms on her denim work shorts. "Well, I am a weapons specialist after all." She risked another quick glance in Dante's direction and sighed dreamily. "Those leather pants sure do look tight. He couldn't possibly by hiding any weapons there! Or could he…"

At that moment, Dante strolled up to Lady and Nico like a male model coming down the catwalk. "Hey, there sweetcakes! Can I offer you any assistance here?" He asked, gesturing towards the open hood of the van with a nod.

Nico felt her heart begin to race and she looked away from his handsome face shyly. Did he hear what she'd said about him just now?!

"_Oh gawd!"_

Dante seemed to sense Nico's anxiety because he offered her a reassuring smile. "Being the gentleman that I am, I just thought I'd come over and see if you needed any help with fixing up that old rust bucket." Then without taking his attention off the two women, Dante added loudly enough for Nero to hear. "Believe it or not, real men are not entirely extinct yet."

Nero rolled his eyes dramatically. "Says the guy who just referred to you both as_ sweetcakes_ a moment ago…"

"And what's wrong with that? I meant it as a compliment. Cake is sweet and so are these lovely ladies over here." Dante flashed a charming smile at Lady and Nico before turning his attention back to Nero. The smile melted from his face and his brow suddenly became knitted with confusion as an afterthought came to his mind. "It's way better than being called a beefcake, isn't it? That doesn't make any sense if you ask me. I mean, you can't even make a cake out of beef!"

Nico burst into laughter upon hearing this, but Lady just slapped her forehead with her palm in exasperation._ "Dante is the son of the legendary Sparda and quite possibly the greatest devil hunter of all time. But damn! He says the dumbest things sometimes!"_ Lady thought with a sense of wonder.

Nero was trying very hard not to laugh himself and had to draw several deep breaths before he dared to offer a response. "It's just an expression, dumbass! Why would anyone want to call _you_ a beefcake anyway?"

"_I would!"_ Nico thought to herself longingly. But she didn't dare say it out loud of course!

Dante put his hands on his hips and regarded Nero through narrowed eyes. "Well, you're really touchy today aren't you, kid? You been experiencing some puberty blues again?"

"I- You know what? I'm done listening to this bullshit! I'm going out to get some fresh air!" Nero announced moodily. He shot Dante one last look of contempt before turning on his heel and making his way out the garage door briskly.

"Suit yourself, kid." Dante shrugged dismissively and turned his attention back to Nico and Lady. "Ladies, where were we…"

"You know what? I think I might go join Nero outside. It smells like a smokehouse in here." Lady said, gesturing to the cigarette that was still smoldering in Nico's hand.

Nico opened her mouth to protest. She was about to point out that Lady had been standing beside her all this time and hadn't seemed bothered by her smoking up till now. But the mechanic hesitated when she saw her companion giving her a little wink as she stepped past Dante and followed Nero into the late afternoon sun beyond the garage door.

Nico found herself staring at Dante with hungry eyes, her beloved cigarette forgotten once again as she held it limply between her fingers. Dante gave her a warm smile and stepped forward to take the cigarette out of her hand. Nico felt a tingle of excitement run down her spine as Dante's fingers brushed against hers for a fleeting moment. He looked down at the cigarette distastefully before dropping it and crushing it under his boot as though it were some kind of vile demon insect.

"You know that those things can kill you? There are much nicer things you could be putting in your mouth instead." Dante said quietly. He was standing close enough now that Nico could smell his alluring scent, so she closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. She thought she detected a hint of intoxicating male sweat as well as a combination of leather and citrusy cologne. As Nico leaned a little closer, she realized that his breath smelled a bit like strawberries and… hang on a second… was that pepperoni?!

"_Oh what the hell! Pepperoni isn't so bad!"_ Nico thought to herself giddily. Her eyes were still closed, she wasn't sure whether she would feel brave enough to stand this close to the one and only Dante otherwise! She desperately wanted him to kiss her and she prayed that he would do so any minute now…

Unfortunately, Nico wouldn't get the chance to find out whether Dante would make her dream come true because they were suddenly interrupted by a tremendous commotion coming from the street.

Nico's eyes flew open and she uttered a startled gasp as the sound of shouting and gunfire filled the air. "What's going on out there?" She asked in a small voice, her eyes glued to the garage door fearfully. She thought she heard Nero yelling something from further down the street as well as more gunshots and something else… something that definitely didn't sound human.

Nico had no idea what kind of demon was out there. But judging by the chilling sounds it made (not to mention the sheer amount of shooting and swearing she heard coming from Nero) she quickly deduced that it was something a lot bigger than an Empusa. The noise kind of reminded Nico of a strong gale blowing around the eaves of a house. It was a very unnerving whistling sound followed by a demonic shriek that chilled Nico to the bone.

Dante had already positioned himself between Nico and the partially open garage door, ready to protect her if he needed to. His demeanor was completely different now. He suddenly looked very imposing with Ebony and Ivory in his hands, his fingers ready to pull the trigger at a moment's notice as he aimed both pistols at the garage entrance and waited.

Nico let of another gasp and instinctively stepped closer to Dante's back as she heard that terrifying inhuman shriek again, followed by a sharp cry of pain from Lady and some more frantic shouting from Nero. A few heart-stopping minutes went by before a silhouette appeared in the garage entrance and a wounded Lady stumbled inside. Dante lowered his guns, his expression full of concern as Lady limped towards him and Nico, her mouth twisted in a grimace of pain. Her breathing sounded ragged and part of her white blouse was stained with blood from a nasty-looking gash above her left hip, her hand pressed against the wound in a futile attempt to slow the bleeding.

"Oh my gosh! Lady what happened?!" Nico rushed to her injured friend's side and started tending to her wounds as best as she could while Lady explained how she and Nero had been ambushed by a group of demons outside.

"Hurry, Dante! Nero is in trouble…"


	2. Hit Me With Your Best Shot

**Chapter 2 – Hit Me With Your Best Shot**

Flames ignited along the Red Queen's blade as Nero plunged the tip of his sword into the pavement and revved the hilt to charge it with more demon-killing power. He could feel a thin line of blood trickling down his face from a deep cut under his right eye where his enemy had sliced him moments earlier. The young hunter's expression was full of hate as he watched the air in front of him become distorted and a rift suddenly form, the large demon that materialized out of the portal unleashing a guttural roar upon completing its most recent teleportation.

The monster stood about twice as tall as Nero, its head resembling that of a corpse with deep, black soulless eyes that tracked the young hunter's every move as he stared back at it with absolute loathing. Its entire upper body and part of its face was wreathed in what at first glance, appeared to be a writhing mass of purplish-blue "tentacles" that also made up its arms. In actuality, these sinuous tentacles were the demon's own entrails (Nero had seen the innards of many slain demons in his time to recognize demon guts when he saw them!) Instead of hands, the monster possessed a pair of enormous blades almost as long as the rest of its body, which it carried up and over its back when it wasn't using them to attack. These blades made the demon rather top-heavy and slow moving, but it compensated for this with its ability to teleport in order to put some distance between itself and its target, usually countering with a sneak attack as it reappeared after teleportation.

"You are really starting to piss me off, you teleporting son of a bitch!" Nero grumbled under his breath resentfully. His hand tightened on the Red Queen's hilt as he raised the sword and prepared to make another lunge at the Hell Judecca that stood before him. He had had more than his fair share of encounters with this particular species of demon in recent months. Even though demon sightings in Redgrave had declined significantly since the Qliphoth had been destroyed, creatures from the Underworld _did_ occasionally find ways of entering the human world by other means and unfortunately, some were better at escaping from hell than others…

And few were more adept (or irritating!) than the demon that Nero currently found himself facing down. The Judecca let out another deep growl and extended its right blade in a long range thrust attack that Nero just barely managed to dodge by jumping to the side as it whistled past his ear. He did not want to get hit by that massive scythe-like blade again! The cut on his face had already begun to heal thanks to the demon blood that flowed through his veins. Nonetheless, Nero was fully aware that the Judecca's bladed weapons could inflict some horrific injuries if he wasn't careful. Not only were the blades lethally sharp along both edges, but each one weighed more than Nero himself and the demon was capable of throwing them around with devastating momentum!

Nero felt his rage escalating as he recalled how the Judecca had almost impaled Lady earlier when it had appeared out of nowhere and ambushed them. He had walked off a short distance down the street when he'd heard Lady calling out to him as she ran to join him. Nero had turned around to face her when the air began to shimmer and warp between them. Then the portal appeared and three Hell Cainas practically landed on top of them, the small ghoul-like demons wasting no time in going on the attack with their serrated scythes. Despite the complete unexpectedness of the attack, Nero and Lady had responded accordingly. Between them, they soon reduced the small demons to piles of ashes with a combination of concentrated gunfire and some good old fashioned hacking and slashing with the Red Queen.

But as it turned out, the Hell Cainas had only been a diversion. While Nero and Lady had their attentions focused on the smaller demons, the Judecca had appeared behind them and launched a devastating sneak attack of its own…

Nero let out an enraged battle cry as he rushed towards the demon, the Red Queen glowing brightly in his hands as he attempted to slash at the writhing mass of guts that covered the Judecca's torso like a gruesome fashion statement. But the demon was cunning and quickly parried Nero's sword strike with a powerful swipe of one of its blades just as the Red Queen was about to make contact with her target. The force of the Judecca's blow threw the young devil hunter off-balance and he stumbled to regain his footing as the demon followed up its parry by lunging forward and slashing downwards with both blades in a deadly counterattack.

Nero's lightning fast reflexes saved him from getting impaled on the spot. But even so, the tip of one of the Judecca's blades caught him on the left shoulder as he jumped back and the young hunter cried out in pain when he felt the razor-sharp weapon slice down to the bone. Blood began to ooze from the wound as Nero took a few steps back and looked down at his torn jacket, his teeth clenched tightly as he fought to control the searing pain that erupted in his shoulder.

"You're going to pay for that, you fucking asshole!" Nero growled through his teeth, nearly dropping his sword as he struggled to lift it with his injured arm. The Hell Judecca floated backwards a few paces in order to get itself into a more strategic position before preparing to unleash another of its long-range attacks on the wounded devil hunter.

Nero grabbed Blue Rose out of its holster and fired a few shots at the demon out of sheer frustration. He had learned from previous encounters with this particular species that shooting at a Judecca for a sustained period of time was not the wisest thing to do, since bullets didn't do a great deal of damage to it and the demon tended to keep teleporting out of range anyway. But Nero didn't really care right now. He needed to buy himself some time until the pain in his shoulder subsided sufficiently enough for him to be able to wield his sword effectively again. Once again, Nero found himself wishing that he had one of Nico's Ragtime Devil Breakers right now. It would have made dealing with this irritating demon so much easier!

But ever since his right arm had miraculously regenerated two months ago, Nero felt it was no longer necessary to carry a bunch of Devil Breakers with him at all times anymore. Sure, he still occasionally resorted to using one when he was called out on demon hunting jobs around the city. But this attack had come unexpectedly and he didn't have a Devil Breaker on his person_ now…_

Nero had no choice but to make do with what he had at the moment. Just as he'd expected, the Judecca teleported constantly to evade his gunfire. It never tried to attack him during this time, instead focusing all its attention on generating portals and reappearing somewhere else in the nearby vicinity before promptly vanishing again and repeating the process.

Nero waited for the Judecca to disappear from view as it teleported again. Then he took the opportunity to charge the Blue Rose until it glowed with even more power. As soon as the demon reappeared a short distance to his right, he unloaded with a barrage of extra-powerful shots that ripped through the Judecca's chest with a satisfying explosion. The demon gave a startled shriek and stumbled backwards a few steps, its blades hanging limply at its sides as it appeared to be momentarily stunned.

Nero seized his chance and charged at the demon before it could fully recover, slashing it across the belly several times with the Red Queen then stabbing it in the chest with a powerful forward thrust that brought it to its knees. The Judecca grunted as fell to the ground at Nero's feet and the young hunter raised his sword high to deliver a lethal strike to the back of the demon's head…

But in his haste to end the battle, Nero forgot one of the most important rules about fighting a Hell Judecca: NEVER under any circumstances, knock this demon to the ground!

Just as Nero was about to bring the Red Queen down hard on the Judecca's skull, a portal engulfed the demon's body and it quickly teleported out of harm's way. Nero's sword embedded itself uselessly into the asphalt where the Judecca had lain moments earlier, causing the young hunter to swear in frustration as he heard an all too familiar whistling sound coming from directly behind him.

Nero leapt aside instinctively, narrowly missing getting skewered straight through the middle as the Judecca sent both its blades hurtling towards him simultaneously from where it had teleported behind him. The sneak attack was preceded by the demon's signature whistling shriek, the same sound Nero had heard earlier when Lady had been caught off-guard and wounded. The thought filled him with a combination of guilt and anger. Lady was a skilled warrior and was more than capable of handling herself around most demons. But at the end of the day, she was only human and could have been seriously maimed or even killed by the Judecca. Nero blamed himself for failing to protect her in the same way he had failed to protect Kyrie in the past…

The young hunter felt his anger reach a boiling point when he heard the Judecca produce a sound that was eerily reminiscent of mocking laughter, its black eyes watching him cruelly as it raised its blades in preparation for another strike. He took an involuntary step back as the demon made a threatening swipe at him with one of its blades before quickly teleporting out of range again. Nero swore loudly as he felt something solid like a boulder hit him unexpectedly from behind. He whirled around furiously, ready to slice whatever it was that the demon had thrown at him now! Instead his eyes widened in confusion when he saw that it wasn't the Judecca, but Dante who was standing behind him with his legendary devil sword in hand, his expression softly teasing as he regarded the dumbfounded look on his nephew's face.

"Never fear, my boy! Uncle Dante is here!" The veteran devil hunter assured Nero with an overly confident smile that made the younger man frown in irritation.

"I don't need your help, Dante. I was doing just fine on my own!" Nero hissed through clenched teeth, his eyes scanning the area for any sign of the Hell Judecca. He spotted the demon standing a few yards away from them, watching them with slight hesitation. Nero didn't know what was going through its mind now that it was faced with the prospect of having to fight two devil hunters instead of one. But he decided that if the Judecca were able to speak, it would probably be aiming some hellish obscenities their way right about now…

Dante raised an eyebrow skeptically in response to his nephew's brash declaration. "You sure about that, kid?" His voice was filled with genuine concern as he gestured to the nasty wound in Nero's left shoulder.

"Yes! I'm fine. That bastard just grazed me that's all…" Nero mumbled absently. His attention was focused on the Judecca intently as it stabbed the tips of both blades into the ground and began making a wide sweeping motion with its arms. The gouges its weapons left in the pavement filled with a dark, bubbling substance that looked like blood coming straight from the ground.

"Oh no you don't, you disgusting pile of demon shit!" Nero shouted, trying to push his way past Dante angrily. He knew what the Judecca was planning to do and he had stop it quickly before it could complete its summoning ritual. He was in no mood to deal with more Hell Cainas or those crazed cleaver-wielding Antenoras in addition to this extremely infuriating enemy!

Dante clapped a hand over Nero's good shoulder firmly, halting the seething young hunter in his tracks. "Cool it, hothead. Why don't you stand back and let me show you how it's done?" Before Nero could protest, Dante charged at the Judecca with lightning speed. His sword clashed loudly against one of the demon's blades and forced it to abandon its summoning in order to parry his strike.

The Judecca let out a low growl as it tried to counter Dante's attack by swiping at him with one of its blades. But the veteran hunter had been anticipating this reaction and swiftly dodged to the side as the demon's weapon sliced through the air where he'd been standing a moment earlier. A malicious grin broke out on Dante's lips as he called out to his sword with his mind, urging it to revert back to its dormant state and it vanished from his hands in an instant. Then he reached into his coat and pulled out a different weapon; a Devil Arm that resembled a staff of some kind with purple electricity crackling along its surface.

The Judecca took one look at the sparking, crackling weapon in Dante's hand and decided it didn't want anything to do with that! In fact, if the demon was capable of speaking, it would probably be saying something along these lines: _"Hell no! Fuck this shit! I'm out of here!"_

But before the demon could teleport to a safer distance, Dante launched himself into a lightning fast forward spin attack, striking the hapless Judecca repeatedly with the electric staff and preventing it from escaping. Powerful surges of electrical current flowed through the demon's body, rendering its muscles unresponsive as it collapsed to the ground at Dante's feet. But unlike when Nero had stunned it earlier, this time the Judecca was unable to teleport away as Dante began pounding at it relentlessly, his hands covered in flaming red gauntlets that grew hotter and hotter with every blow he landed.

Nero watched in amazement as Dante drew his arm back in preparation to deliver a knockout punch. The experienced hunter maintained this position as the Judecca slowly began to recover and struggled to rise to its feet. As soon as it was standing halfway up, Dante unleashed the full power he'd stored up in the fiery gauntlets and punched the demon in the chest so hard, that Nero heard its ribs shattering from where he was standing. The Judecca made a rasping sound as one of its lungs collapsed from the impact, its mangled chest heaving as it literally had the wind knocked out of it.

"Come on! Is that all you got? Hit me with your best shot! Fire away!" Dante taunted as the demon backed away from him unsteadily. Nero approached the Judecca from behind, the Red Queen aglow in his hands and his expression set with determination. "Don't expect me to just sit back and let you have all the fun, Dante! I'm not about to give you the satisfaction of bagging this bitch after putting up with all its bullshit for the past hour!"

Dante looked thoughtful for a moment, his gaze shifting from the demon, to Nero and back again. Finally the veteran devil hunter sighed and nodded slowly in agreement. "Fair enough, Nero. Tell you what. How about we finish off this creep together? I still have some unfinished business at the garage and the sooner we kill this thing, the sooner I can get back to more important matters…"

Nero's eyebrow practically shot up to his hairline as he regarded his uncle questioningly. "Hey! Watch it, asshole! That's my friend you're talking about!" He pointed the Red Queen's tip in the direction of the Judecca scathingly before adding, "If you so much as look at Nico the wrong way, you'll find yourself joining this sorry excuse for demon shit in the Underworld!"

Despite the harshness in his voice, Nero couldn't help smiling inwardly at the thought of Dante and Nico spending a romantic evening together. He had heard rumors that his uncle had an appalling track record when it came to dating women. His natural attractiveness as well as the legends surrounding his heroic deeds seemed to have an irresistible effect on the opposite sex. So why was it that a date with the infamous son of Sparda supposedly always ended with tears and disappointment? In fact Nero had heard that his uncle was notoriously unlucky when it came to women and that many of those unfortunate (or foolish) enough to fall under his charms, tended to avoid Dante like a plague after surviving a "date" with him.

"_I just hope Nico realizes what she's getting herself into…"_ Nero thought to himself coyly. He quickly pushed the thought aside and turned his attention back to the Hell Judecca still standing between him and his uncle. He noted that the demon appeared to be having trouble lifting its formidable blades into an attack position and it was breathing with difficulty due to its collapsed lung. Apparently, it didn't have the strength to teleport either, since it hadn't tried to conjure any portals after Dante had nailed it with the full power of Balrog's "real impact." But it wasn't ready to go down yet…

As though in answer to Dante's earlier taunt, the Judecca roared with defiance and raised its blades for one final attack. Dante and Nero both charged at it in unison, swords drawn and ready to deliver the killing blow. The demon waited until both hunters were almost upon it before executing a spectacular and deadly pirouette, its lethal blades arcing through the air as it tried to slash both devil hunters simultaneously during its spin. Dante timed his moment just right and managed to grab the demon by the base of one of its blades as it ended its wild spinning attack. Meanwhile, Nero summoned his Devil Bringer and latched onto the Judecca's other blade with his spectral blue arm.

"Here's a taste of your own medicine!" Nero shouted and began pulling back on the Judecca's blade as hard as he could with his Devil Bringer arm. There was a disgusting squelching noise as the young hunter gave a few strong tugs and finally succeeded in wrenching the blade out of the writhing entrails that made up the demon's upper arm. The weapon was incredibly heavy and Nero would never have been able to lift it, let alone _throw_ it without the added power of his Devil Bringer. The Judecca shrieked in outrage as its blade was ripped out of its grasp and it began frantically struggling to free its remaining weapon from Dante's grip. Despite its size and fearsome appearance, the demon was virtually helpless without its impressive double blades...

Dante braced himself against the thrashing demon and drove the tip of its remaining weapon into the ground, pinning it down as Nero concentrated all his power into his Devil Bringer and threw the Judecca's enormous blade straight into its chest. At the same time, Dante adjusted his hold on the demon's other blade and yanked it out of the ground forcefully, stabbing the dying monster in the abdomen with the point of the weapon as it fell backwards. The Judecca's shrill death cry filled the air as its body began to dissolve into dust before their eyes. Soon there was nothing left of the demon but a few charred particles floating in the air, its spirit sent back to the Underworld where it would join the vanquished souls of its fallen brethren.

"I was kind of hoping I could keep one of those blades as a trophy. It would have looked great in my office…" Dante commented with a disappointed sigh. He saw Nero giving him a strange look and offered the young hunter a small smile of admiration. "Those were some sweet moves, kid. Remind me never to challenge you to an arm wrestling match with that Devil Bringer of yours!"

Nero smirked at his uncle approvingly. "You didn't do so bad yourself for an old guy. Just remember, I could still kick your ass in a fight anytime!"

Dante chuckled and threw his arm around Nero's shoulders affectionately. The young hunter winced and swore as his uncle's hand touched his sore left shoulder where one of the Judecca's blades had "grazed" him earlier. The injury had already begun to heal over, but it still hurt regardless. "Hey! Watch it, dumbass! That still feels a bit tender."

Dante made an appeasing gesture with his hands as Nero shrugged off his touch roughly. But the older hunter's eyes were filled with a softly teasing light as he reached over and ruffled his grouchy nephew's hair playfully. "There, there my feisty little Nero. Did I ever tell you that you're the closest thing I have to a son?"

Nero swore again and pulled a disgusted face at his uncle. "I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that…"

He had meant the comment as an insult. But in the end, Nero had to admit that he was almost _relieved_ that his tone sounded more teasing than angry as the two devil hunters made their way back to the garage side by side.

* * *

_A/N: First of all I want to thank all the wonderful people who have been reading this story so far! I also want to send out a special thanks to all the people who took the time to review the first chapter :) __ I really appreciate hearing your thoughts and your wonderful feedback (whether it's constructive or humorous) motivates me to keep writing :)_

_I hope I didn't bore you all with this chapter. I think I'm probably one of the only people out there who actually likes the Hell Judecca! True. They can be a major pain in the ass to deal with, but I just find them so interesting and call me crazy, but I thoroughly enjoy fighting them, xD. Anyway, since this story is categorized as both humor and supernatural, I guess this covers the "supernatural" part. The next few chapters will hopefully contain a bit more humor (and surprises along the way!) _


	3. The Divine Purgatory

**Chapter 3 – The Divine Purgatory.**

Nico swore as the freshly lit cigarette fell from her hand and landed on the filthy ground at her feet. It wasn't every day she saw Dante and Nero engaged in friendly banter, Dante's arm draped across the younger devil hunter's shoulders as they walked into the garage side by side as though they were best buddies coming back from a lovely afternoon stroll together! It was such an uncommon sight that Nico found herself staring at the approaching hunters with open-mouthed astonishment.

"Damn! I just lit that there cigarette less than a second ago…" Nico mumbled absently, her eyes flitting from Dante to Nero and back again curiously. "What's going on here? You two look unusually chummy for a couple of guys who just fought off a demon…"

Nero stopped in his tracks abruptly, the smile melting from his face as he suddenly looked quite embarrassed. _"Idiot! What was I thinking?!"_ He scolded himself silently, a telltale blush creeping across his cheeks as he shrugged off Dante's arm and tried to change the subject before Nico could mock him further.

"Where's Lady? Is she alright?" He demanded without making eye-contact with either Nico or his smirking uncle.

"Duh! What do you think, tough guy? She was in _my_ care!" Nico scoffed sarcastically. Her brown eyes were softly teasing as she watched the young hunter shuffling his feet uncomfortably, his gaze fixed to the floor evasively. Nico shook her head and waved her arm in the direction of the van dismissively. "Why don't you go see for yourself?"

Nero gave a small sigh of relief, keeping his head down as he shouldered his way past his uncle and headed for the partially open door on the side of the van. His face was burning and he could hear his own heartbeat in his ears as he quickly climbed the steps that jutted out from the doorway and entered the dimly lit interior. Nero took a deep breath and tried to regain his composure before Lady had a chance to notice his embarrassment. He found the wounded huntress sitting on the well-worn couch behind the van's passenger seat with an old blanket draped over her shoulders. She appeared to be wearing one of Nico's spare work shirts while her bloodied blouse had been washed and hung out to dry from a makeshift clothesline Nico had set up in one corner of the van.

Nico had indeed cleaned and dressed the deep cut above Lady's left hip with some bandages from her first aid kit and Nero was relieved to see that she didn't appear to be in much pain anymore. She was holding a steaming mug of something that smelled a little strange to Nero and when she looked up at him, the keen-eyed hunter noticed that she had been chewing on something prior to his arrival and quickly attempted to swallow whatever it was as though she was trying to hide it from him…

"Are you okay?" Nero asked with concern, his blue eyes searching her face closely for any signs of discomfort.

Lady tried her best to look inconspicuous and nodded in confirmation. Unfortunately, she still hadn't quite finished chewing and as a result her voice came out sounding noticeably distorted. "Yeah, I'm great. Nico has been taking really good care of me…"

As Lady spoke, she shifted in her seat slightly and that's when Nero saw the corner of a familiar pink and white packet poking out through the blanket that covered the female hunter's shoulders as well as part of the couch. A look of realization dawned on Nero's face and before he could control his emotions, he unintentionally raised his voice at Lady in accusation. "Hey! Have you been eating my marshmallows?!"

Nero remembered he'd left the packet of marshmallows Dante gave him in the van just before he'd gone outside in the belief that they'd be safe there. But apparently that wasn't the case! First Dante had "helped himself" to three quarters of the packet and now Lady was stuffing her face with the remainder of his snacks?! This was an outrage!

Lady offered Nero her most apologetic look upon seeing the corner of his mouth turn up in an angry sneer. "Sorry, Nero. I only meant to have one or two of your marshmallows. The problem is, they are just so addictive…"

Nero opened his mouth to protest. But before he could say anything, Nico appeared in the doorway and shoved him roughly in the back with her fist. "Now hold it right there, asshole! Lady risked her life to help you and has a hell of a scar to prove it! You should be thanking her, not whining like a little brat because she ate your stupid marshmallows!"

Nico's voice sounded so scornful that Nero actually flinched as he turned to look at her apprehensively. Her arms were crossed and she stared back at him imposingly. The young hunter had seen Nico look at Empusas the exact same way she was looking at him now and he found that deeply unsettling…

"Hey, I nearly got impaled out there too you know!" Nero countered defensively. His voice came out sounding a lot whinier than he would have liked and he cursed himself silently. But he couldn't help it! He didn't like being told off for something that he felt wasn't even his fault!

Nico's expression turned sour as she looked Nero up and down unconvincingly. "Really? As far as I can tell, there's barely a scratch on you…"

"Of course there isn't. He had a knight in a shining red coat by his side out there." Dante announced from behind Nico, causing the mechanic to jump a little at the unexpectedness of his appearance. Nico blushed and looked down shyly as Dante stepped into the van beside her, giving first herself then Lady a radiant smile before he carried on speaking. "It's okay, Lady. You go ahead and finish off the rest of those marshmallows. We wouldn't want Nero to ruin his teeth with all that sugar."

"Oh! You can talk, smartass! You've already ruined your teeth and god knows what else with all those strawberry sundaes and pizzas you've shoveled down your throat over the years!" Nero rebuked tartly. The young hunter ignored the smug expression his uncle aimed his way and stomped over to the small kitchen at the rear of the van to fix himself a cup of coffee. He could use a warm, relaxing drink to lift his mood and soothe his aching body after all the stress he'd been through this afternoon!

Nico was still blushing as she turned to look at Dante. Her hands were clasped together at her waist and she felt her heart fluttering inside her chest as she chuckled nervously. "So did you kill that demon? I hear those Hell Judecca thingies can be a royal pain in the ass to deal with!"

"Ah, it was a piece of cake. That walking pile of demon guts never stood a chance!" Dante boasted, giving Nico a confident wink as he bragged.

"Oh please! You're going to make me puke here!" Nero commented humorlessly from the kitchen, rolling his eyes as he settled down at the counter with a steaming cup of coffee and some stale biscuits he'd found in one of the cabinets. According to the expiry date on the packet, they had expired over a month ago and Nero hoped that he wouldn't get sick by eating them. But he was hungry and since he had been denied of his marshmallows, he was stuck with these moldy old biscuits instead...

"I think I might stay here and get some rest if you guys don't mind." Lady piped up from the couch. She didn't know why, but her head felt a little groggy all of a sudden and her words sounded slightly slurred when she spoke. "I'm feeling kind of woozy. What did you put in this coffee, Nico?"

Nico grinned at her friend proudly. "Oh, nothing special. Just a touch of some good ol' fashioned moonshine! It's a traditional remedy that's been passed down in my family for generations. Trust me girl, you'll be feelin' like a million bucks in no time!"

"Gee, thanks…" Lady mumbled drowsily. Her eyes were half-closed and her head was spinning slightly as she raised the mug to her lips and took another sip of Nico's "traditional remedy."

Dante glanced from Nero to Lady and shrugged dismissively. "Well it's been a long day and you both look like you need a rest." He turned his attention back to Nico and smiled at her invitingly. "On the other hand, the night is still young and I'm buzzing from the excitement of that battle! Nothing makes me feel more alive than fighting demons! Or hungry for that matter…"

Nico felt her heart pounding with excitement as Dante turned towards the door and winked at her irresistibly. "I think I might go grab a bite to eat. _Anyone_ care to join me?"

The shyness Nico normally felt when she was in Dante's presence melted away and she nodded enthusiastically. "Now that you mention it Dante, I am feeling a little peckish myself…"

"Well in that case, follow me Sweetcake. I know the perfect place where all your culinary dreams can come true!" Dante bowed theatrically and extended an arm towards Nico gallantly. Nico took hold of his arm with both hands eagerly. In her enthusiasm, she ended up squeezing his arm a little too tightly and made Dante grimace in discomfort. "Damn! That's a pretty strong grip you've got there, girl! I'm glad you're not an itsy bitsy spider, because I doubt that even I could escape from that web!"

"Oh you'd better believe it, mister! If something gets caught in my web, it will stay there until this spider decides when or _if_ she's ready to let it go!" Nico laughed giddily, her fingers instinctively squeezing Dante's well-toned arm even more tightly as though to prove her point.

Nero pulled a disgusted face as he walked past Nico and went to join Lady on the couch. His stomach already felt a bit queasy from the stale biscuits he'd just eaten and the unmistakable whiff of alcohol he detected on Nico's breath on his way past threatened to make him puke right then and there. "Pew, Nico! It smells like you treated yourself with some of your own moonshine remedy when you were taking care of Lady. Come to think of it, that would explain your unusual boost in confidence all of a sudden!"

Nero gave his uncle a sympathetic look, his expression laced with a tinge of sarcasm as he added, "I was initially worried about what Dante might do to you this evening. But perhaps I should be more concerned about what you're going to do to him…"

"Ha, ha." Nico snarked back in a slightly slurred tone. "My lips are sealed. A girl is entitled to a secret or two, isn't she?"

Dante listened to the brief exchange of insults between his nephew and Nico with a combination of bemusement and boredom. "Right then, Sweetcake. Are we ready to go?"

"Are you kidding? I was born ready, mister!" Nico exclaimed overeagerly, all thoughts of arguing with Nero instantly forgotten as she gazed up at Dante's handsome features admirably.

"Then I promise you won't be disappointed, babe! It's time I introduce you to the Divine Purgatory." Dante declared with a proud smile, only to have his announcement met with a blank look from Nico.

"_What the heck is a Divine Purgatory?"_ The baffled mechanic thought to herself with mounting apprehension. She glanced over at Nero and Lady for answers and felt her confusion deepen when she noticed the two of them smirking at her in amusement.

"_They definitely know something I don't. What the hell am I getting myself into here_?!" Nico wondered with a nervous gulp.

"Come on you guys! Enlighten me! What's the deal with this Divine Purgatory?" Nico demanded, the frustration evident in her voice as she looked at Nero and Lady expectantly.

Nero pinched his thumb and index finger together and slid them across his mouth in the classic "my lips are sealed" gesture. Lady had a blissful expression on her face, her eyes half-closed as she let out a soft sigh of pleasure. "Oh don't you worry about a thing, Nico. You are in for a wonderful treat…"

Nico felt the gears inside her head working overtime as she pondered over what Lady had said. _"Okay. Maybe she meant that Dante will show me his office later…"_ Nico suddenly felt a twinge of jealously seep into her thoughts and she furrowed her brow at Dante questioningly. _"Dante, you dirty devil! It sounds like you've already treated Lady to this fucking Divine Purgatory before!"_

Nico struggled to push the jealous thoughts aside and sighed in resignation. _"Oh well. I would have liked to have been his first choice. But I guess beggars can't be choosers…"_ When Nico glanced at Dante again, she couldn't help noticing that he looked extremely pleased with himself. The devil hunter saw her looking at him unsurely, so he gave her an encouraging smile and took her by the hand gently. "I'm ready whenever you are, babe. Let's rock!"

Nico grinned like an idiot before looking away hesitantly. "I just hope wherever we're going isn't too far." She waved her arm in Nero and Lady's direction indicatively before adding, "As you can see, these two have turned my van into a mobile sick bay and I don't fancy going for a long walk through those streets after dark."

"Walk? Who said anything about walking?" Dante laughed, a flicker of pride flashing through his piercing blue eyes as he gazed at Nico inquisitively. "How do you feel about going for a spin on my devil ride; Cavaliere?"

"Are you for real?!" Nico's voice came out in a high-pitched squeal of excitement, her eyes wide with wonder at the prospect of going for a ride on Dante's demonic motorcycle, an engineering masterpiece she'd heard about, but hadn't actually seen up close till now! "You brought Cavaliere with you?!"

"Of course he did." Nero commented from the couch sarcastically. "Did you really think he walked all the way here with those old, arthritic knees of his? Give me a break!"

Dante made a strangled noise in the back of his throat and shot Nero a look of stubborn defiance. "Well be that as it may my boy, these old knees had no trouble keeping up with that Judecca demon that was giving you such a hard time before I showed up."

"Just get out of here already!" Nero snapped irritably, waving his arm at his uncle in a dramatic shooing gesture. "I've got a bad case of indigestion from listening to your bullshit all afternoon!" Truth be told, Nero knew that it was probably those goddamn stale biscuits he'd eaten that had upset his stomach, but putting up with Dante for the past few hours certainly wasn't helping his current situation…

Nico cleared her throat and pulled at Dante's arm eagerly, interrupting the veteran devil hunter's thoughts and causing him to look at her curiously. "Come on, Dante! I can't wait to get on that badass Cavaliere motorcycle!"

"In that case, follow me right this way, Sweetcake." Dante smiled to himself proudly as he led the excited mechanic out of the garage and over to the imposing demon bike he'd parked in a nearby alleyway.

"Hold on and enjoy the ride, babe. Dante is about to show you a real good time…"

* * *

_A/N: Once again, I want to give my deepest thanks to all of you who have been reading this story and especially to those who showed their support by reviewing, favoriting or following so far :)_

_After a lot of hiccups, the hot date is finally on! But if you think you've got it all figured out from here on, I've got two words for you: "think again…" _


	4. Demon Dance (Part 1)

**Chapter 4 – Demon Dance (Part 1.)**

Nico let out a loud cry of exhilaration as she and Dante sped through the deserted streets of Redgrave on Cavaliere. She had practically plastered herself against Dante's back, the wind whipping through her hair and the sound of the engine deafening in her ears as Dante opened up the throttle on the demonic motorcycle, causing Nico to wrap her arms even more tightly around his waist and laugh with sheer delight. She was amazed to discover just how weightless the bike felt beneath her the faster they went, as though the wheels were barely touching the ground and they were literally riding on air. Never in her wildest dreams had Nico imagined that she would find herself riding such a marvelous machine with the legendary son of Sparda!

Dante turned his head slightly towards his clingy passenger without easing off the throttle. He was forced to shout to make himself heard above the roar of Cavaliere's engine, but his tone sounded light and reassuring nonetheless. "Let me know if you'd like me to slow down, babe! You must be freezing in those shorts…"

"Are you kiddin'? This is amazing!" Nico laughed joyously, closing her eyes and relishing the experience. The combination of the wind blowing in her face as well as filling her nostrils with Dante's intoxicating scent raised her internal temperature to the point of overheating. "I feel hotter than a Hellbat inside a volcano right now!"

Nico didn't want the ride to end. She'd had a massive crush on Dante ever since she first met him and gave him that Dr. Faust Hat all those months ago. Now she was finally going on a date with him and she intended to milk this experience for all it was worth!

Dante took them to the outskirts of town and stopped the bike in a dark, quiet street a short time later. Nico looked around at her surroundings with slight apprehension. She'd never seen this part of the city before and she couldn't quite understand why Dante had decided to stop here. Many of the buildings looked old and were in disrepair, with tall hills looming in the distance and casting eerie shadows over the poorly lit street they were currently in. Nico saw a narrow trail on her left that appeared to lead to a rundown graveyard at the end of the street, while on her right stood an old-fashioned looking building with a small lantern above the door and a faded sign that read: _**Papa Giuseppe's Pizzeria and Italian Cuisine. **_

Nico furrowed her brow in confusion as Dante switched off the engine and dismounted the motorcycle purposefully. "Here we are, Sweetcake. Feast your eyes on the finest pizzeria in Redgrave city!"

Nico took the hand Dante extended to her and got off Cavaliere hesitantly. This place was far from the romantic setting she'd envisioned when she'd taken up Dante's offer back at the garage. But he _did_ say he was hungry and she had agreed to join him without bothering to question what he'd had in mind. Nico tried to push the doubtful thoughts to the back of her mind and shrugged dismissively. She supposed they could grab a bite to eat here and hopefully, one thing would lead to another in due time…

Nico quickly tucked the stray locks that had come loose during their motorcycle ride back behind her hairband and smiled at Dante sweetly as she allowed him to lead her into the quaint dining establishment gallantly. The bell above the door rang out softly as they entered the building together and stopped next to a sign that read: _Please wait to be seated._

"_What the hell for? There ain't nobody else here!"_ Nico thought with an amused snort as she looked around the empty restaurant in bewilderment. Dante closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. "It's good to be home! I've sure missed this place…"

All of a sudden, the door to the kitchen opened and a short, tubby old man with a balding head came out to greet them. He was wearing a green, white and red striped apron with the words _Kiss the Chef_ written across it and when he spoke, he did so with a heavy Italian accent as he gave Dante a warm embrace and kissed the air next to his cheeks in welcome. "Dante, my boy! It is great to see you again!"

"Greetings, Papa Giuseppe!" Dante said merrily, picking up the little man under the arms and spinning him around in a friendly fashion.

"Eh! Eh! Put me down, my boy! You know I have the high blood pressure! I might get it the stroke!" Papa Giuseppe protested half-jokingly as Dante set him back down gently. The little chef patted out the creases in his apron habitually before turning his attention to Nico. He smiled at her warmly as he took her by the hand and kissed it politely. "And who is this pretty young bella?"

Nico felt her face blushing and she looked down shyly. "Pleased to meet you, mister. But my name isn't _Bella_. It's Nicoletta. My friends call me Nico for short…"

Giuseppe squeezed her hand and chuckled amicably. "Of course, my dear! In Italy we say bella as in_ bellissima_. It means beautiful young lady." He explained with a friendly smile.

"Oh. Thank you, I guess…" Nico stammered, averting her eyes to the floor and clasping her hands in front of her waist bashfully.

Giuseppe bowed theatrically and made a sweeping motion with his arm. "Take a seat at any table you like, my friends. As you can see, business is a little slow today!"

Dante nodded and turned to Nico with an encouraging smile. "Come on, Sweetcake. I'll show you to my regular table." Nico felt a twinge of excitement as she followed Dante through the room to a secluded corner table near the jukebox.

"_Oh, this looks promising! The restaurant is practically empty but he wants even more privacy!"_ She thought with elation, her heart beginning to beat fast with hopeful anticipation. Giuseppe brought them some menus as they sat down facing each other across the table. "Can I get you started with some drinks?"

"No drinks for me, Papa G. Just a strawberry sundae as usual." Dante said without glancing at the menu the chef placed in front of him. Giuseppe nodded and turned to Nico patiently. "And how about you, bella? Would you like the same as Dante?" The little man shrugged and gave her a wink before adding, "Or something a little bit stronger maybe…"

Nico looked at her menu indecisively. "Uh…"

"Bring us two strawberry sundaes, Papa G." Dante announced casually. Nico looked up from her menu and stared at the devil hunter in surprise. He shrugged at her nonchalantly and added matter-of-factly, "I'm sure she won't mind. Everyone loves strawberry sundaes."

Papa Giuseppe shrugged and was about to head off to the kitchen to prepare the requested desserts when Nico cleared her throat loudly. "Actually Dante, I wouldn't mind something a bit stronger." Giuseppe turned back to them and smiled at Nico approvingly. "Why of course, bella! Let me bring for you the wine list. We have many_ fantastico_ reds to choose from…"

Dante looked at Nico with raised brow as Papa Giuseppe left to fetch the wine list. "What? I have refined tastes okay!" Nico said defensively. Dante held up his palms in an appeasing gesture and shrugged dismissively. "Suit yourself, babe. You don't know what you're missing though..."

Giuseppe returned with the wine list and some cutlery which he laid before them courteously. Nico took the wine menu from him with a gracious smile and began looking through the fancy names on the list carefully. The last name on the list caught her eye and she pointed to it thoughtfully. "I like the sound of this one: _Demon Dance._ Is it any good?" She asked Papa Giuseppe inquisitively.

"Ah, an _eccellente_ choice, bella! That one is a _magnifico _Demonic Shiraz! It is a dark and rich with a hint of blackberry fruit and vanilla." Nico nodded as she listened to Giuseppe's passionate description with intrigue. "It sounds very appealing when you say it like that! I'd like to try some if you got any."

"Of course! One bottle of Demon Dance and a strawberry sundae coming right up!" Papa Giuseppe made a quick detour to the kitchen and returned a few minutes later with two wineglasses and a bottle of the so-called "_Demonic Shiraz"_ as well as Dante's strawberry sundae.

Dante looked at the two glasses in confusion and raised his brow at Giuseppe questioningly as the little man put his strawberry sundae in front of him. "Hey, Papa Seppe? Why did you bring two glasses? I told you that I didn't want any drinks."

"No, no. This is not a for you, Dante! Is for _me!"_ Giuseppe expressed boastfully, pointing a finger at his own chest before turning to Nico with a charming smile. "Do you mind if I have a glass with you, Nico? It helps me make a better pizzas."

Nico smiled at Giuseppe sweetly as she allowed him to pour her a glass of wine. "It's up to you. I mean it doesn't look like Dante intends to have any and I doubt that I can finish the whole bottle by myself…"

Giuseppe was just about to start pouring himself a glass when Dante interrupted him impatiently. "Papa G! Do you mind? I'm starving here!" He waved his arm in a dramatic gesture and stated brusquely, "I'd like my usual and make it extra-large since there are two of us this evening."

Giuseppe gave the demanding devil hunter a dirty look. He fancied himself as being quite the ladies' man back in his day and was looking forward to having a glass of wine or two with Nico, maybe even charming her a little before retiring to the kitchen to prepare their meals. But apparently that wasn't going to happen now…

The disgruntled chef sighed grumpily and nodded. "Fine. You know what they say: the customer is always right." He looked at Dante with narrowed eye, his tone sounding noticeably tart after being denied of his chance to impress the fine _bella_ next to him. "I guess that will be one extra-large _Divino Purgatorio _then?"

"That's the one." Dante affirmed with unflinching self-assuredness. "And don't put any olives on it this time. I hate olives!" He called out to Giuseppe's departing back as the chef left them and disappeared into the kitchen reluctantly. From across the table, Nico stared at Dante in open-mouthed disbelief. "Are you fuckin' kidding me?! The Divine Purgatory is a type pizza?!"

Dante grunted in bemusement. "Of course. What did you think it was?" His blue eyes searched her face thoughtfully for a second before he asked, "Did you have something else in mind when I mentioned it to you earlier?"

Nico dropped her gaze to the table uncomfortably. She could feel her face turning hot and her hands started fiddling with her wineglass nervously as she offered up an explanation hesitantly. "Well, I…ah…thought that a purgatory is somewhere that you go to confess your sins? Then…um…afterwards you are sent to someplace nice like paradise? I'm not so sure really…"

Dante listened to her insecure chatter with mild interest. A smile slowly worked its way over his lips as he looked around the room before suggesting in a lighthearted mannerism. "Well babe, I don't know whether any of that is true or not. But here in Papa Giuseppe's place, you can confess to all the sinful foods that you don't get to eat very often and when he works his magic, the result is nothing short of divine!" As though to prove his point, Dante picked up his spoon and dipped it into his rapidly-melting strawberry sundae before adding passionately, "I can promise you that from the first bite, your taste buds will feel like they've arrived at this 'paradise' you speak of!"

Nico was still feeling a little skeptical. But in the end she gave in as she watched him begin to eat his dessert eagerly. "Okay, I'll take your word for it. You've obviously been here many times before, so if you say the food's good, then I believe you." Nico picked up her glass and took a big sip of her Demonic Shiraz, a pleased smile appearing on her face as she thought, _"I don't know about that darn pizza, but this wine sure is divine!" _

Nico looked up from her glass and noticed that Dante was well and truly digging into that strawberry sundae with gusto. In fact, he kind of reminded her of an overexcited kid attacking his ice cream dessert like it was the most delicious thing he'd ever tasted in his life! Nico found that thought adorably endearing and smiled at him fondly. She suppressed a laugh and reached over the table with one hand. Dante paused his enthusiastic shoveling for the briefest of moments as Nico wiped a glob of strawberry cream that was sliding down his chin with her finger and then licked it off in satisfaction.

* * *

_A/N: Thank you to all the kind people who have been reading/supporting this story so far :)__ I know this chapter was a bit short, but I decided to split this restaurant part into two separate chapters otherwise it would have turned out really long by the time I mentioned everything I planned! The next chapter will contain the rest of Dante and Nico's shenanigans at Papa Giuseppe's Pizzeria (which I hope will make many of you smile because I have lots of fun planned for them, xD)_

_Speaking of fun, here's a little fun fact that I wanted to share with you: Demon Dance is actually a real wine! It is a type of Shiraz we have here in Australia and as soon as I saw the name I was like Nico, "I just had to try some!" All I can say is I hope Nico enjoyed her glass as much as I did :)_


	5. Demon Dance (Part 2)

_Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the song "Devil Inside." It belongs to INXS._

**Chapter 5 – Demon Dance (Part 2.)**

Nico took another generous sip of her wine. Her cheeks had taken on a rosy tint, giving her whole face an illusion of a soft glow. She'd slipped off her plaited brown hairband at some point during the past half-hour and placed it on the leather-covered booth beside her, causing her long black hair to cascade over her face and shoulders in luscious waves and making her look even more stunning than usual.

Dante watched her with silent interest from his position across the table, his hand absently stirring the remnants of his strawberry sundae with his spoon. His date had become rather chatty after indulging in a couple of glasses of the aptly-named "Demonic Shiraz" she'd ordered from Giuseppe's wine list and Dante found himself only half-listening to her passionate talk about engines, weapons and other technical lingo involving machinery and vehicle parts that he'd neither never heard of nor cared about for that matter…

Eventually Nico stopped talking after noticing the devil hunter's distracted expression and the fact that he'd been unusually quiet for some time. Even though he was staring at her, it soon became apparent to Nico that he was deeply lost in his own thoughts and wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention to what she had been saying all this time. A sense of unease settled over the mechanic as she realized how much Dante resembled his older, more serious twin at the moment. He had the same cold, distant look in his eyes and pinched frown that she'd seen on Vergil's face once before, almost as though the human and demon halves of his soul were having a heated argument about something in his mind – a far cry from the lighthearted, charming man who had offered to take her out on a date earlier this evening!

Nico swallowed her wine nervously, her mind racing as she thought to herself, _"Dammit! I'm losing him! I'd better do something quick if I want to keep him keen and interested in me a while longer…"_

Putting her wineglass aside, Nico stood up and stretched elegantly like a big cat. Her gaze fell on the glass of partially-melted strawberry sundae Dante was fiddling with absent-mindedly. She couldn't help smirking as she told herself silently, _"I've never met a guy who has dessert before the main course! It's time for me to show him that not all things that are sweet come in dessert glasses…"_

Nico turned her attention to the jukebox not far from their table and gave Dante a seductive smile. "Hey, Dante! Care to join me for a dance?"

The question seemed to catch the devil hunter by surprise and he blinked several times before looking up at the grinning mechanic uncertainly. Nico felt her confidence waver slightly under his intense gaze and quickly added as an afterthought, "After you've finished your ice cream that is! Don't feel like you have to rush or anything!"

Dante was apparently satisfied with this response and nodded softly before turning his attention back to the melted strawberry mush in his dessert glass. Nico let out a small sigh of relief and headed over to the jukebox to select a song that she hoped would be more or less to Dante's liking. She took a deep breath and threw all her insecurities and doubts to the wind as the sound of a catchy guitar riff filled the room with its up-tempo beat and she started moving to the music. Before long, Nico began to thoroughly enjoy herself and as her confidence grew, she started busting out some the sexiest, most seductive dance moves she was capable of throwing together in an effort to impress her super-hot date.

The corner of Dante's mouth turned up in a small smile as he watched Nico's passionate dancing with a combination of admiration and amusement. _"Hell! This girl is hot! She might even be able to teach me a couple of new dance moves…"_

Dante had barely even finished the thought when he happened to glance at the kitchen window and noticed Giuseppe watching Nico's erotic dance routine with a bemused expression. Almost simultaneously, the devil hunter and the chef locked eyes before a teasing grin spread across Giuseppe's round face. He pointed to Nico and raised a finger to the side of his head. Then he proceeded to make a circling motion next to his ear, signifying the universal sign for _"She's crazy!"_

Dante nodded in response. A cheesy grin appeared on his face and he shrugged his shoulders as if to say: _"Yeah, I know…"_

The devil hunter gave his oblivious date a final amused glance, then got up and went over to the kitchen window to talk to Giuseppe. "Hey, Papa G? How long until that pizza is ready?"

The smile disappeared from Giuseppe's face and he slapped his forehead with his palm in exasperation. "Dante, you dumbass!" He waved an arm in Nico's direction indicatively before turning back to the clueless devil hunter and shaking his head in disbelief. "Can't you see that beautiful girl is trying to get a-your attention? Instead all you can think about is pizza! How many times do I have to tell you? You are always thinking with your guts and not a-your head!"

Dante waved off the irate Italian's accusations dismissively. "Ah, come on Papa G! You know I like to take things one step at a time! And first thing's first…" He looked over his shoulder at Nico, who was so preoccupied with her dancing that she hadn't even noticed that he wasn't paying attention to her anymore, and he let out a quiet sigh of relief. Dante turned back to Giuseppe and keeping his voice low so that Nico wouldn't overhear, explained to the chef sheepishly, "How do you expect me to show her a good time if I haven't had dinner first? My tummy won't stop rumbling and I don't think that's very sexy or appealing, do you?"

"Are you kidding me?!" Giuseppe exclaimed, throwing his arms into the air dramatically. "Thunderstorms rumble! Tigers rumble! She'll probably think she's bagged herself a tiger!" The chef proceeded to do his best impersonation of a tiger's growl and clawed the air, catching Nico's attention just as she pirouetted in their direction right at the same moment. The mechanic smiled at Giuseppe charmingly, responding with a claw swipe and growl or her own before continuing to dance with renewed vigor.

"Oh mama mia! If only I was-a 25 years younger…" Giuseppe gave a startled gasp when he heard Dante clearing his throat impatiently and he forced himself to look at the devil hunter with as much dignity as he could manage. "By the way, Dante. You forgot this the last time you were a-here…" He reached underneath the counter and brought out an inconspicuous-looking white cowboy hat with a fancy golden letter D embroidered into the underside and handed it to Dante.

"Put that on. She might think you look a-smarter wearing a hat." Giuseppe suggested helpfully as he left a slightly bewildered Dante standing at the window to check on the pizza in the oven. Dante turned Dr. Faust over in his hands thoughtfully before giving a small shrug and flipping the hat onto his head with a nimble flick of his wrist. He didn't really know what it was about this unusual Devil Arm, but something about wearing Dr. Faust always made him feel like dancing. It was as though the hat would not allow him to stand still for very long, urging his muscles into motion without him being consciously aware of it until he was no longer able to resist the temptation to join Nico on the dancefloor. He sashayed up to the mechanic and tapped her on the shoulder invitingly, causing her to whirl around and let out a squeal of delight when she noticed him wearing her precious gift.

"Wow! You kept my present!" Nico suddenly felt herself blushing and she dropped her gaze to the floor before adding, "You look so handsome wearing it."

"Of course I kept it, babe!" Dante said with a soft chuckle. He placed one hand on Dr. Faust's brim and dipped his head forward slightly whilst striking a stylish pose in preparation to bust out some smokin' hot dance moves. "There's something about this hat that really brings out my inner dancing demon!"

"Well what are you waitin' for then?! The only thing I would love more than watching you dance, is having you dance with me!" With that, Nico grabbed hold of both of Dante's hands and started swaying her whole body provocatively. The song currently belting out of the jukebox filled her with ecstasy and she soon found herself singing along to the chorus enthusiastically:

"_Devil inside,_

_The devil inside,_

_Every single one of us,_

_The devil inside!"_

"Oh, Dante! I love this song!" Nico threw her arms around Dante's neck and started laughing giddily at the irony of those lyrics. "You literally have a devil inside you! It's like this song was practically written about you!"

Dante smirked deviously as he placed his hand on Nico's lower back and pulled her towards him with such unexpectedness, she almost smacked her nose into his chin from being jerked forwards so suddenly. The mechanic put both hands on his chest to steady herself and looked up at her dance partner with a mixture of surprise and delight. "Well, well! It looks like I've awakened your inner demon, huh? Just promise you won't go full-blown Devil Trigger on me during this dance, okay? I don't think I'm ready for that much excitement yet…"

Dante and Nico started dancing together passionately. Nico didn't know what had come over her all of a sudden, but she wrapped a leg around Dante's hip and tried to execute a complicated backwards dip when she felt her supporting foot slide out from underneath her. There was a sickening popping sensation in the region of her left ankle as Nico lost her balance and hit the floor with such force, her glasses were nearly knocked off her nose and she landed on her backside with an undignified "Oomph!".

"Shiiiiiit!" Nico gritted her teeth and swore, a wave of pain pulsating from her left foot as though her ankle had been hit by a red-hot ball of Pyrobat spit.

"Whoa! Are you okay there, Sweetcake? Here. Let me give you a hand." Dante said in a soothing voice as he helped Nico to her feet carefully. Nico leaned into his shoulder and hobbled back towards their table with her sore foot clumsily, cursing herself inwardly for being so stupid and throwing away what was probably the one and only chance she'd ever get to dance with Dante in her life!

"Here we are." Dante gently eased his injured date back onto the leather booth and sat down opposite her, propping her left foot on his knee as he began taking off her boot. "Let Doctor Dante take a look at your foot. I think you probably just twisted your ankle really badly." Nico didn't protest as she allowed him to slip off her brown cowgirl boot and inspect her sore ankle. She glanced down at her foot herself and saw that the area around her ankle looked a little swollen and bruised. But apart from that, there were no other physical signs of injury and she let out a relieved sigh.

"_Okay. It looks like Dante was right. I only twisted it after all… Ow! Son of a bitch, that hurts!"_ Nico thought peevishly, screwing her eyes shut and biting back a sharp insult as Dante prodded her puffy ankle with his finger experimentally. The devil hunter looked up at his "patient" with a reassuring smile.

"I can give you a foot rub if you'd like? It might help ease some of the pain…" He offered generously.

Nico immediately forgot about the discomfort coming from her throbbing ankle and nodded vigorously. In reality, the pain wasn't quite as bad as she made it appear. But how could she possibly say no to getting a free foot massage from Dante?! An offer like that doesn't happen every day!

"Sure, Dante. If you think it'll help…" Nico said as casually as she could, hoping that her voice wouldn't betray the eagerness she was currently feeling on the inside. Dante smiled at her warmly and started massaging her whole foot with his strong battle-hardened hands, beginning with her toes and working his way towards her ankle methodically. Nico closed her eyes, her whole body instantly relaxing as she sank back into her seat from pleasure.

"Does it feel any better yet?" Dante asked quietly, the pressure from his fingers becoming gentler as he reached her sore ankle and massaged the injured area carefully.

"Does it ever! If I could, I'd be purring like a cat right now!" Nico replied with a blissful expression. She opened her eyes and reached for her glass of wine, taking a generous sip before leaning back in her seat with satisfaction. She soon found herself starting to feel a bit amorous as a result of the alcohol and dim lights shining overhead. A sly smile spread over her lips as a devious thought suddenly crept into her mind...

As Dante continued massaging her left foot, Nico pretended to close her eyes again and ever so slowly, lifted her right foot and located his pant leg beneath the table. Then still keeping her eyes half-closed, she carefully trailed the toe of her boot along the inside of Dante's leg, starting just below his left knee and gradually heading higher and higher, trying her hardest not get overexcited and unintentionally kick him in the crotch in the process…

Through her half-closed lids, Nico saw Dante tense ever so slightly and he paused massaging her foot uncertainly. The mechanic had to restrain the urge to laugh as she watched his expression go from initially shocked, to pleasantly surprised as he resumed massaging her ankle with a wide grin on his face. Just as the tip of Nico's boot was about to reach its intended destination, both she and Dante were brutally jolted back to reality by Giuseppe slamming a large plate of pizza on the table between them.

"There! Your extra-large _Divino Purgatorio_ has arrived!" The chef announced with his usual flair and lightly-teasing mannerism.

"Damn it, Papa G! This is the one time I wish you could have been a little late with that pizza…" Dante remarked with a deflated sigh. He slipped Nico's boot back on and pushed her foot off his knee rather roughly, ignoring the grimace she pulled as her foot hit the floor with an audible _thud._

"Eh! First you come and ask me why your pizza is taking a-so long to make? So I bring it for you pronto and now you complain it not take a-long enough?!" Giuseppe gesticulated irritably as he spoke, his hands flying around all over the place as he looked at Dante with an annoyed expression. "Pizza is here now, so eat and then get-a out of here!"

As the chef turned to leave, he glanced at Nico and smiled at her before adding with a wink, "It is a full moon tonight after all. Maybe if you two are a-lucky, you may get a little bit moonstruck…" With that, Papa Giuseppe waddled off to the kitchen, rolled down the shutters on the window and put up a sign that read: _The Kitchen is Closed._

* * *

_A/N: Sorry if the ending seemed a little rushed, guys! I had originally planned to add a bit more to it, but in the end I just could not get it to flow the way I wanted and I got really frustrated with myself :(__ Don't get me wrong. I thought the start and middle turned out decently enough. But I feel like something went a little amiss towards the end! I actually had a lot of difficulty with this chapter in general for reasons I can't quite understand (it all looked so simple and straightforward when I was making my notes for it…) _

_I also feel as if Dante and Nico were both a bit ooc in this one. I always try my best to keep everyone as close to character as possible, but sometimes that's not so easy when trying to write humor. Anyway, I'd like to send out a huge thanks to all the wonderful readers and my dear friends who have been supporting this story up till now :)__ Hopefully the next couple of chapters will turn out a bit better…_


	6. Take Me To Your Heaven

**Chapter 6 – Take Me To Your Heaven.**

Nico made her way over to Cavaliere eagerly. She looked up at the night sky and saw that Giuseppe had indeed been right; there was a full moon tonight, its brilliant light bathing the streets and surrounding hillsides with a spellbinding luminescence that gave the whole place a magical feel and helped dispel any anxiety she may have had about being out in this unfamiliar part of the city at such a late hour.

Nico felt her heart racing with excitement as she walked up to the magnificent demon bike parked next to the curb. Not only was she looking forward to taking a ride on this remarkable Devil Arm again, but now that Dante had sated his hunger with that "Divine Purgatory" he'd been going on about all evening (which she had to admit, had been pretty tasty as far as pizza is concerned.) She now assumed that her diabolically handsome date intended to take her back to his place next, a prospect she'd been fantasizing about since the beginning of the evening…

Nico was just about to climb onto Cavaliere's seat, when she heard a teasing voice behind her say, "Whoa! Hold your horses, young lady! Where do you think you're going?"

The mechanic turned around to face Dante with a confused expression. "Aren't we going to head on over to your place now?" She sucked in a deep breath and tried to look confident as Dante approached her with a softly teasing glint in his eyes, the corner of his mouth turned up in a small smirk. Nico folded her arms over her chest and glared back at him defiantly. "Come on, Dante! This is supposed to be the part of the evening where you ask me if I'd like to come over to your place for coffee or a night cap..."

"To which I reply _'I'd love to!'" _She hinted sarcastically.

"_I'm hoping that by_ 'coffee,'_ you understand that I mean something else entirely, you gorgeous but hopelessly dumb demi-demon!"_ Nico thought to herself with a snort of amusement, her gaze searching Dante's face carefully for the slightest signs of comprehension on his part.

Dante gave her an apologetic look and shook his head dismissively. "I don't think that's such a good idea, Sweetcake…" He saw the disappointed look on Nico's face and added half-jokingly, "Trust me, you wouldn't like my place very much. It looks like a tsunami swept through there!"

Dante reached out and touched Nico's forearm gently. She looked up at him hesitantly and despite herself, couldn't help smiling as he chuckled and exclaimed, "What can I say? House keeping hasn't been around this week. Or month actually. Or year…" He squeezed her arm reassuringly and whispered softly, "You know what? I have a much nicer place to show you, if you're interested."

"Are you kidding? Of course, I'm interested! What are we waiting for?" Nico blurted out a little overeagerly. She felt a telltale blush creeping across her cheeks and looked away from Dante's face self-consciously. However, if Dante was amused by her enthusiasm, he didn't let it show. Instead, he offered her his hand and tried to sound convincing in an attempt to put her mind at ease. "Do you trust me, Sweetcake?"

"_Well, not really…"_ Nico told herself apprehensively. Suddenly, a sly grin appeared on her lips as another thought came to her mind and she accepted his hand with a sense of renewed excitement. _"Oh, what the heck?! If it's a chance to grab your hand (or any other part of you for that matter) I'm more than happy to go along with it!" _

"Let's go then!" Nico said, her eyes watching Dante curiously as he let go of her hand and began carefully removing one of the dirty, white bandages that he wore around his wrists. Dante grinned at her mysteriously as he held up the dirty strip of cloth in front of Nico's face proudly, then slipped it over her eyes and tied it behind her head like a blindfold.

"Hey! What are you doing that for…" Nico started to protest uncertainly, before uttering a yelp of surprise as she felt Dante's strong arms grabbing her around the waist. The devil hunter effortlessly hoisted his baffled date over his shoulder like a prehistoric caveman claiming his prize. For a few moments, Nico was too stunned to say anything. She definitely was not expecting that! What did he think she was anyway? Lady's beloved Kalina-Ann rocket launcher?! As she lay draped over his shoulder with his other arm wrapped around her legs for support pondering the thought, she felt him start walking off in an unknown direction, her vision limited to a small slit due to the disgusting blindfold he'd placed over her eyes.

After a few seconds, she heard his voice saying confidently, "Are you comfortable up there, babe?"

"I- uh guess so…" Nico tried to figure out where the devil hunter was taking her based on what little she could see through the slit in her blindfold. But all she managed to make out in her narrow field of view was the bottom part of Dante's long red coat flapping around in the wind as he walked, as well as patches of gravel that suggested he was hiking along a dusty trail instead of through the street for some odd reason…

After a while, Nico began to feel sleepy from a combination of too much wine and the lulling rocking motion of Dante's stride as he carried her further and further into unknown territory. She found herself beginning to doze off, her lids growing heavy with weariness as she allowed herself to slip in and out of consciousness. Finally, Dante came to an abrupt halt some time later and she heard him announce happily, "Here we are, Sweetcake."

Before Nico could ask him where _"here"_ was exactly, she felt him shifting her weight off his shoulder. Then without warning, he dumped her unceremoniously onto the ground like a sack of potatoes before removing the blindfold from her eyes and sweeping his arm around their surroundings theatrically. "Well? What do you think, babe? Pretty breathtaking isn't it?"

Nico blinked up at the beaming devil hunter in disbelief, a flood of thoughts rushing through her mind as she struggled to comprehend what she was seeing. She was still sprawled out on the grass where Dante had (for lack of a better word,) "deposited" her. She didn't need to stand up to get a better view of her surroundings because even from this vantage point, she could see more than enough to figure out where they were. Nico felt a chill roll down her spine as she realized they were on a hill overlooking the city, which ordinarily would have been a pretty impressive view except for the fact that this particular hill was dotted with old, rundown gravestones! And as if that wasn't creepy enough, the spot Dante had chosen was surrounded by at least a dozen or so graves that were far closer to Nico's proximity than she would have liked in broad daylight, much less the middle of the fricking night!

"Are you for real, Dante?!" The mechanic uttered in a small voice, her gaze coming to rest on his grinning face in astonishment. The devil hunter laughed delightedly, his silver hair reflecting the moonlight and giving him an eerie, ghostly appearance that unnerved Nico even more.

"I knew you'd like it! We've got a magnificent view of Redgrave from up here…" He gestured at the city lights spread out below them, then waved at the graves on either side of them admirably. "Look at all those candles flickering beside the gravestones like fireflies. And then there's the stars high above us! Giuseppe was right. The moon does look spectacular tonight!" Dante paused and looked at his date expectantly, his blue eyes shining brilliantly in the moonlight. "Don't you agree that this place feels like heaven?"

Nico swallowed nervously. "Well that depends on how you look at it." She glanced at the graves all around her and commented half-jokingly, "For some people, this place was literally the final stop before heaven."

"_Or hell…"_ She thought to herself humorlessly.

Nico felt her unease growing and she looked around fearfully. "There could be ghosts or evil spirits around here! In mean, come on Dante! We're surrounded by stiffs…" She dropped her voice to a low whisper and said more to herself than to the devil hunter patiently watching her nearby, "Those are definitely not the kind of stiffs I had in mind!"

"Ah, don't worry about a thing, babe." Dante said, puffing out his chest defiantly and doing his best to look imposing to any potential ghosts or demons that might be watching them from the shadows right now. "Did you forget who you're with tonight? If anything decides to crawl out of the Underworld and give us a nasty little surprise, it's going to have to go through me before it can get anywhere near you."

This announcement seemed to satisfy Nico and she exhaled slowly. She could already feel some of the nervous tension leaving her body and she allowed herself to relax ever so slightly. "Okay. You're right, Dante."

Nico closed her eyes and listened to the sound of the breeze blowing through the trees at the edge of the clearing. Crickets chirped somewhere in the distance and she could make out the occasional hoot of an owl carried along on the night wind. After a few seconds, Nico opened her eyes again, smiling in admiration as she gazed at the moon and stars shining brightly overhead. "I do have to admit, it _is_ really peaceful out here. I can't remember the last time I spent a night away from a garage and all the hustle and bustle of the city…"

Dante sat down beside her and the two of them fell into silence as they basked in the serenity of their surroundings and each other's company. After a little while, Dante casually draped his arm around Nico's shoulders (much to the mechanic's pleasure) and she leaned her head against his chest gratefully. She could faintly hear Dante's steady heartbeat in her ear and before long, she found herself on the brink of dozing off again. In fact, had it not been for Dante running his fingers through her hair, she might have drifted off to sleep completely.

"You have such beautiful hair…"

It was an innocent comment on Dante's behalf. He meant it as a simple compliment and never intended to offend Nico in any way. But as soon as he said it, Dante felt the mechanic tense up beneath his touch, her breath catching in her throat in an audible gasp of shock. Her eyes were wide open now and she pulled away from him as though she'd been physically stung, her expression full of alarm and something else… _disgust?_ Dante thought as he stared back at her in bewilderment.

"What's wrong, Nico? What did I do?"

Nico was silent for several seconds. When she finally did answer, her voice was tinted with resentment and she refused to make eye-contact with Dante, keeping her gaze fixed to the ground in front of her as she explained tartly, "That was something my daddy used to say to me when I was little. He liked boasting to people about how I inherited his _'beautiful'_ hair…"

Now it was Dante's turn to looked shocked. Of course! How could he have been so stupid?! The devil hunter turned his face away from Nico, shaking his head as the guilt hit him like a dagger to the heart. Everything about this date with Nico suddenly felt so wrong to him. He was the one who had killed her father all those years ago on Fortuna and even though his actions had been justified at the time, how could he not expect Nico to despise him for it? As corrupt and cruel as Agnus had been, he was still her father. What if this whole date was actually some sort of twisted act of revenge on her part…?

Dante stood up; his expression grim as he addressed the mechanic without meeting her eyes. "Let's go, Nico. I'll take you back to your van now." Nico remained seated and regarded him with hesitation. She had no idea what had come over the normally charming, wisecracking devil hunter all of a sudden. But she thought she detected something that sounded like shame in his voice and it made her feel uneasy.

Dante still refused to look her in the eye as he let out a sigh of regret and said, "You're a great girl and you deserve someone better than me. I completely understand if you hate me because of what I did…"

Nico reach up and took hold of Dante's hand, cutting him off awkwardly as she pulled him back down beside her gently. "Why should I hate you, Dante? For killing my asshole daddy?" The mechanic shook her head and sighed, her hand squeezing Dante's fingers in reassurance as she went on in a level tone. "That's not something I just realized now; you know. I came here with you tonight because I wanted to! The fact that you killed my father doesn't change the way I feel about you one bit!"

Nico paused and Dante glanced at her face uncertainly. Her eyes had teared up slightly and when she continued speaking, there was a mixture of anger and sadness in her voice as though she were reliving some painful memory from somewhere deep in her past. "My daddy was a bastard of the worst possible kind! He abandoned my mother and me when we needed him the most and made it very clear that we meant nothing to him! He completely fucked up our lives!"

Nico brushed the tears out of her eyes with the back of her hand and looked at Dante with a sad smile. "If you didn't stop him, who knows how many innocent people would have gotten hurt or killed because of his unethical '_research!_' So no, Dante. I don't hate you. I think you're a fuckin' hero!"

Dante looked at his date thoughtfully. "Are you sure about all this then? Us being here together, I mean…"

Nico laughed and smiled at the handsome devil hunter fondly. "I am 100… no make that 1000% certain!" She took both his hands in hers and leaned in to give him a kiss. Finally! This is the moment she'd been waiting for all night!

Just as Nico's lips were about to touch his, she detected a slight movement in her peripheral vision and her head veered to the left as her gaze instinctively focused on the blur of motion. All of a sudden, her eyes widened in horror and she let out a shriek of alarm, leaving Dante understandably dumbfounded as she pushed him away from her as though she'd just seen a ghost…

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_A/N: Just one more chapter to go before we wrap up this crazy date! Thank you again to all the wonderful readers around the world for tuning into this story so far and an extra special thanks to J. vanGreven and Tripledent for your inspirational feedback! You guys motivate me to keep writing and to never give up :)_


	7. Wrong Place, Wrong Time

**Chapter 7 – Wrong Place, Wrong Time.**

Dante felt as though he'd just been bitch slapped. After coming tantalizingly close to getting kissed by his pretty date (who had made it very clear that she'd had the hots for him from the moment he'd met her,) Dante could not understand why Nico had suddenly recoiled from him with what he could only describe as undisputed disgust.

"Don't just sit there staring at me like an idiot!" Nico stammered in a shrill, panicky voice. Her eyes searched his face with mounting desperation before she pulled another sneer of absolute repulsion and blurted out, "Kill it!"

"Kill what?" Dante ventured uncertainly, throwing a quick glance behind him but detecting nothing out of the ordinary. He reached out and placed a hand on Nico's arm in an attempt to reassure her. "What's gotten into you all of a sudden, babe? You look like you've just seen a ghost or something!"

"Oh, I would prefer to see a ghost over those disgusting, hideous abominations hovering right over there!" Nico exclaimed contemptuously. She shrugged off Dante's hand roughly and pointed to a cluster of graves to their left. Dante turned his head in that direction just in time to see what looked like two giant, demonic blowflies, their swollen abdomens filled with a sparkly, bright green fluid fly out from behind some bushes at the edge of the clearing. Dante heard their wings beating the air noisily as the Green Empusas hovered nearby, their large compound eyes watching the devil hunter with calculating coldness as though contemplating whether they should risk an attack or not.

Dante turned back to Nico with a softly teasing smile. "What? You're not afraid of those little insects, are you? They're virtually harmless!"

"I don't care! They're disgusting and I HATE them!" Nico screeched explosively, kicking Dante in the shin with the toe of her boot for motivation. "Kill them! What are you waiting for?!"

Dante grunted and got to his feet with a reluctant sigh. He proceeded to summon the devil sword that shared his name with a simple command of his mind before turning to face his buzzing opponents imposingly.

"Just sit back and enjoy the show, babe. This will be over in no time at all…"

With that, Dante assumed a crouching posture, the length of his sword glowing a menacing red as he charged it up quickly. Before either of the Empusas could react, he unleashed the power he'd built up in his weapon with a succession of blisteringly fast sword swings, the resulting shockwaves ripping through the hapless demons and knocking them both out of the air instantly.

Dante threw a cocky smirk over his shoulder at Nico, then rushed toward the fallen Empusas as they struggled to get airborne again, their translucent wings fluttering weakly and their spiny chitinous legs scrabbling at the ground in a desperate attempt to gain traction. The devil hunter raised his sword high and brought it down onto the smaller Empusa's head, cleaving its skull in two with one decisive blow.

Nico watched in mortified silence as the defeated demon's body turned into a charred husk before dissipating in the night wind, its shrill death shriek ringing in her ears and making her flesh crawl with absolute abhorrence. Dante meanwhile, was looking extremely pleased with himself. He exuded an air of confidence as he turned his attention to the remaining Empusa, which had finally managed to regain its footing and launched itself into the air with a few powerful thrusts of its wings.

"Come and get me, you overgrown housefly!" Dante taunted, his blade glistening with the blood of the larger demon's slain companion as he pointed the tip at his opponent mockingly. The Empusa shrieked in outrage and flew at the devil hunter, squirting a stream of noxious green liquid at its target as it hovered high above him. Its bulbous eyes tracked his every move as Dante dodged the poisonous fluid with a well-timed sidestep.

"I'm bored..." Dante remarked with an exaggerated yawn. His expression was full of mockery as he leapt up to intercept the demon before it could reposition itself or try to evade him.

With a few rapid slashes of his sword, the Empusa was sent plummeting out of the air again. But this time, Dante didn't let it hit the ground. He got beneath the falling demon and spun his sword like a propeller. The blade sliced into the Empusa's body repeatedly, shredding its fragile wings and spraying the devil hunter with a coating of green slime as though the demon were a bird that had just gotten sucked into an airplane engine. When it was all over, Dante looked down at his slime-covered coat and frowned disapprovingly.

"Oh, that's just great! This stuff is such a pain in the ass to get rid of…" Sighing, he willed his sword to revert to its dormant state and it disappeared from his hand in a flash. Then he began fussing over the Empusa gore spattered on his clothes, kicking his leg out to dislodge a particularly large glob of demon guts that clung to his boot. Unfortunately, Dante was so engrossed in his task, that he momentarily forgot all about Nico, who cringed as the slimy projectile from the devil hunter's shoe landed on her right thigh with a disgusting slap.

"Oh, hell no! That's the grossest thing ever!" Nico jumped to her feet and fixed Dante with a horrified expression as she swatted the Empusa slime off her leg feverishly.

"Hey! Watch where you're flinging that shit, you jackass…" The mechanic started to protest angrily. But her complaint was cut short when Dante flicked out his sleeve and sent a blob of green slime hurtling through the air, its trajectory taking it on a collision course with Nico's face. Before she could react, it hit her right in the middle of the forehead and slid down her nose, landing on the front of her welder's jacket with a wet _'plop.'_

The mechanic let out an earsplitting scream. "Dante! Look at what you've done!"

The devil hunter stopped trying to shake the Empusa slime off his coat and turned to Nico with a startled expression. She glared back at him reproachfully, green slime still dripping from the tip of her nose onto her yellow jacket. "I told you that I can't stand those goddamn things and now you've gone and splattered me with Empusa guts!"

"Ah, come on, babe! It's not the end of the world! You can just wipe it off…" Dante started to say in his typical laid-back manner. But Nico was having none of it. She threw her hands into the air in exasperation and turned away from him in frustration. "You know what? I'm done with this bullshit! I'm going home!"

The seething mechanic started walking along the narrow trail that she hoped would lead her back to town, muttering curses under her breath angrily.

"Aw, don't be like that, Sweetcake! What about me- I mean us?" Dante called out to the ranting woman imploringly, his tone filled with genuine remorse as he watched her stop in her tracks and look back at him with contempt in her eyes.

"There is no _us!_" Nico jabbed a finger at him furiously and exclaimed, "You do whatever you want! I'm going back to my van to wash up!" She paused, gesturing at her surroundings dramatically before continuing in an angry, shouting voice. "Who the hell brings a girl to a graveyard in the middle of the night anyway?! I should have stayed in my van, reading about engine oil and machine lubricants instead of going on this fiasco of a date with you!"

With that, Nico turned her back to Dante and took off running down the trail before he could try to stop her, yelling over her shoulder as she went. "Those rumors I heard about you were right! No wonder you're still single after all this time!"

Dante stood staring into the distance long after Nico had disappeared from view, replaying the events of this evening in his mind and trying to decide where he should go from here. Finally, he gave a small shrug of dismissal and thought, _"Oh well. It looks like I still have rotten luck when it comes to women…"_

A smile suddenly appeared on his lips as he remembered something Morrison had told him once after hearing about the devil hunter's notorious track record with the ladies:

"_The nail that sticks out, gets hammered down…" _

With those inspiring words ringing in his mind, Dante started making his way back along the winding trail that would take him back to the street where he'd left Cavaliere at a leisurely pace. Even though it was late and the trees lining the path blocked out the moonlight, he knew that Nico would find her way back in the dark just fine. The garage where her van was parked at was only about a ten-minute walk from Papa Giuseppe's restaurant. He'd just taken her on a longer detour during their ride on Cavaliere earlier purely to impress her.

The trail Dante was walking along slowly gave way to pavement and a few minutes later, he found himself entering one of the quiet side streets a couple of blocks away from Giuseppe's pizzeria. As he rounded a corner, he saw someone coming towards him from the opposite direction and he felt a twinge of excitement, thinking that perhaps Nico had had a change of heart and was coming back to see him. But as the figure came closer, Dante realized that it was just some old man out for a late-night stroll and he sighed with disappointment.

The devil hunter dipped his head towards the stranger and muttered a polite greeting as they passed each other on the sidewalk. All of a sudden, he heard a low growl followed by a tugging sensation at his left boot. That's when he realized that the elderly gentleman was holding leash and as he looked down at his feet, he saw that a small white dog had latched itself onto his shoe. It was wearing a red canine jacket with a tartan pattern and as Dante looked on in bemusement, the little dog shook its head from side to side and growled furiously, doing its best to defend its owner from the foul-smelling man in the red coat.

As Dante tried to shake the pesky pooch off his boot, the old man began pulling back on the leash roughly. "Dante! Stop it! Sit boy!" He commanded in a stern voice.

The devil hunter froze and regarded the old fart with a mixture of confusion and annoyance. "I beg your pardon?"

The old man finally succeeded in pulling his dog away from Dante's boot, his voice sounding apologetic as he said, "I'm terribly sorry about that, mister. My dog has never acted like that before." He glanced down at his pooch, which was yapping and straining determinedly at the end of its leash in a hellbent frenzy to get back within biting range of Dante's leg. The old man shook his head in disapproval. "I don't know what's gotten into him all of a sudden…"

Dante began laughing heartily as the realization suddenly dawned on him and he waved his hand at the flustered dog owner in a reassuring gesture. "What a feisty little fellow!"

He couldn't help smiling proudly as he looked up at the old man thoughtfully. "Did you say this little warrior's name is _Dante?"_

The old man nodded in confirmation and Dante glanced down at the little dog admirably. "What breed is he?"

"He's a West Highland White Terrier." The dog owner replied amicably.

Dante stooped down to pet the yapping ball of white fluff on the head, only for the little dog to issue a low warning growl and nip at his finger defiantly. Dante drew his hand back quickly and looked at the dog's owner with respect. "I think that's a perfect name for such a magnificent animal!"

With that, Dante bid the old man farewell and gave a final admiring glance at the yappy little terrier, before stepping past them and continuing on his way with a confident swagger in his stride. The old man stood watching the red-coated figure walk down the street as though he were transfixed. Finally, he bent down to stroke his dog and whispered to him nervously. "You know what, Dante? We're never going for midnight walks around here from now on! That man seriously creeped me out with his white hair and those intense blue eyes…"

All of a sudden, the old man heard the strange fellow in the red coat singing to himself as he made his way up the street, the words carrying clearly on the night breeze:

"_We are the heroes of our time,_

_But we're dancing with the demons in our minds,_

_We are the heroes of our time,_

_Hero-oes…"_

Dante pronounced that last word in a long-drawn-out howl. As if on que, the little terrier started howling back in response. The old man began tugging at his dog's leash forcefully as he tried to drag him in the opposite direction. He was well and truly freaked out by now and wanted to get as far away from that weird man as possible! But the little dog stubbornly ignored his master's urging and refused to budge, his claws digging into the pavement as he threw back his head and gave a long, high-pitched howl.

"Come on, you wee son of a bitch! We're getting out of here!" The old man scooped his dog into his arms and started walking away from the mysterious stranger as fast as he could. He suddenly felt convinced that the white-haired figure was not quite what he appeared and he threw one last nervous glance over his shoulder at what he began mentally referring to as the _devil man._ He saw the red-coated figure throw his arms into the air passionately and moments later, a single word echoed through the night air loud and clear:

"HOT!"

**The End.**

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_A/N: There you have it, folks! My first DMC story is done and dusted! I'll admit, it was challenging at times. But I also found it quite enjoyable to write this short story and discovered many new things about my writing style along the way :)_

_I hope you all enjoyed it and thanks again to all the readers and wonderful reviewers whose support kept me motivated throughout this project! I have more exciting ideas for other Devil May Cry fan fics that I'm looking forward to starting soon…_

_Just one more thing I need to mention before wrapping up this note: the disclaimer for the song Dante was singing near the end of the chapter! For those of you who are familiar with the "Eurovision Song Contest," that particular tune was the chorus of the 2015 winner – "Heroes" by M__åns Zelmerlöw from Sweden__. I just want to make it clear that I do not own that song and I quote those lines purely for entertainment purposes :)_

_That's all for now! See you in the next story, xD. _

_\- Svinorita._


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